Kemp piles up points to help Pirates repeat as champions

Saturday

SPRINGFIELD — Marshfield’s Blake Kemp had more wins and totaled more points than any boy at the Midwestern League district track and field meet, but it was the latter that had his attention.

“It’s all about points,” Kemp said. “Winning is worth 10, but in the 110-meter hurdles we had three guys total 22 points in one event. Some performances weren’t as good as we hoped, but some were even better.”

The Pirates repeated as district champions as expected, led by Kemp, who totalled 32?1/2 points on Friday with three individual wins and a relay victory at Silke Field.

Kemp started the afternoon by winning the triple jump at 44 feet, 4 inches to move the Pirates into the lead, and they extended it from there to win with 199 points, with Thurston second at 161. Kemp anchored the 4x100 relay that won in 43.63 seconds.

“That went well; we had a bad handoff and still got a good time,” he said.

Kemp cruised to victories in the 110 and 300 hurdles.

“I was trying to get as good of a time as I could so I get a good start for state, which is going to be real tough competition,” Kemp said. “I had a good start in the 110s, but I need to work on accelerating through.”

Ryan Scoville added a win for Marshfield in the 100 in 11.03 seconds. It was the first district meet for the junior, who has battled injuries and illness in the past.

“I usually don’t get nervous before races, but today I was real nervous and I think it helped me at the start,” Scoville said. “I usually come out behind everyone, but this time I started ahead.”

Churchill’s Garrett James won two individual events and helped the Lancers get to state with a second-place finish in the 4x100 relay. The senior won the 400 by more than a second in 50.87 and returned to win the 200 in 22.69.

“The 400 was hard because I tightened up a lot,” said James, who anchored the 4x400 victory in 3:34.13. “The 200 felt more smooth.”

Mark Sheridan was also a double winner for the Lancers, adding the 1,500 title to the 3,000 he won on Wednesday.

“It’s pretty sweet,” Sheridan said. “Obviously a state title is what I want to cap it all off, but a district title is cool too.”

Sheridan led most of the race before Springfield’s Dylan Arana caught up to him on the final turn, but Sheridan went on to win in 4:19.55.

“It went out super slow and my coach told me to make a move earlier than we planned,” Sheridan said.

“I gave it all I had and thankfully it was enough at the end. I felt him come up with 100 to go and I tried to kick it into another gear.”

Joey McMahon added a win in the 800 for Churchill, edging Thurston’s Jacob Maxwell in 2:03.49. Thurston’s Javan Gray won the javelin at 180-5.

North Eugene senior Michael Bibbee won the shot put with a personal best of 51-7¾.

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